The Opium War In China

Western incursion into China and Japan is a key factor as to how these countries developed economically and socially. While China and Japan were trying to get on their feet and figure out the standards in which to run their countries, the West was escalating in both power and ambitions. The escalation meant growth in European fire arm power which allowed the European countries to make their way into China and Japan without China and Japan being able to stop them because they were not as strong at this point. However, China and Japan both responded to European influence in very different ways. Under the influence of Western imperialism, China was hindered in the process of structural change and industrialization in their society, where as,

Japan and China had many contrasting responses to western penetration in the nineteenth century, including economic interaction - economically China suffered and Japan prospered, Japanese agricultural productivity increased while China’s did not, and China only accepted a small amount of goods while Japan accepted a wide range of goods- and political interaction - China went to war but Japan did not, Japan adopted western learning styles but China did not, and Japan heavily increased taxes on their people after 1890, while China did not -but had very comparable geographic traits – both had ocean borders – Japan was completely surrounded by water while China was bordered on a large percentage of itself, both kept their ports either fully

While westerners in China pushed to claim rights and generally oppose Chinese reformers who worked to better China, Chinese government and society faced internal problems. Being a main target for imperialism, China faced much western influence. One of the events that marked the beginning of intense western influence was the case concerning the Opium Wars. A main imperialistic power, Great Britain, began trading China opium, a heavily addictive drug, in exchange for tea and silk. At first, it seemed like a positive idea – the Chinese

Once these societies were flowing with western influence and ideas in their societies, the people of China and Japan began to try and adopt to these ideas and become big industrial societies as well. In China, these ideas were supported by the people although their government tried to diminish these ideas, while in Japan, the government felt that they had no other choice but to reform, so they began to embrace western development. In

Imperialism is like a kingpin putting his hardest working, most experienced partners in a territory that they have sole control over, with the main job of making the money to bring back to the kingpin, getting their “cut” thereafter. It was the same for the British. Imperialism was vastly growing in the new British Empire. New Imperialism gave rise in East Asia and Africa with the new trade networks and new products and goods that were made to be profitable. According to Abina and the Important Men, palm oil became a new “golden” standard for the British. It was a necessity to how machines in factories worked post-Industrialization era. As for East Asia, opium became extremely profitable, although it put many of the population(s) at extreme

The Opium War was a major part of China’s history. There were many economic issues, (the high cost of importing opium), political issues (disobedience of Chinese ban on opium imports) and consequences of the British victory (Britain’s greater power over China) that precipitated the Opium war, but the British victory had the greatest impact on China because the extension of British power reduced China’s autonomy and made them more dependent on Europe. The high cost of importing opium had major consequences that weakened the Chinese economy and was a leading cause for the Opium War. Document A is a record of the British Imports and Exports at the Port of Canton.

People in Britain were not allowed to smoke opium because it was illegal and had hash punishments if they did therefore the people were too scared to start smoking it. Because of the harsh consequences of smoking opium, Britain tries to sell it to China to make money. They made money because the Chinese bought and became addicts that lead them to buy more. In The Treaty of Nanjing, it states “ His Imperial Majesty further agrees to pay to the British Government the sum of Three Millions of Dollars, on account of Debts due to British subjects by some of the said Hong Merchants who become insolvent” (Article V). China has to pay a large amount of money to Britain because it was said to be due to the “British subjects.” It also affected Britain socially because British subjects were allowed to reside in China even when it isn’t trade season, which benefits them to trade more along with the sudden gain of money from

Specifically, the Treaty of Nanjing, which was signed by China and Britain after the first Opium War in 1842, gave more rights to British traders within China: “The Emperor of China agrees to… permit [British traders] to carry on their mercantile transactions with whatever persons they please,”. British traders now had the ability to trade directly with the public, a privilege that China had long denied foreign countries. These new rights made it easier for British merchants to trade opium, and increased its prevalence in the population. Not only that, British traders used their new rights to gain a strong foothold in the Chinese economy. The Treaty of Nanjing ensured that Britain would have a powerful influence within China and could do whatever they wanted. But in 1906, Britain ended the opium trade when China proposed a 10-year plan to completely eradicate opium. The Chinese government had kept the issue alive since 1900 by negotiating smaller treaties to block opium trading, but it wasn’t until 1905 that British lawmakers seriously considered China’s demands for an end to the trade. By 1900 Britain was making less and less money from the opium trade, with opium imports into China having peaked in the late 19th century. The overwhelming power of the opium trade had created an imbalance in

The Chinese sold many things that European markets were interested in. The British, observing the demand for opium in China, both for legitimate reasons, and by addicts, grew and sold large amounts of opium, and sold it to intermediaries for silver that would eventually sell it on to the Chinese. The balance of trade being upset, and the concern over the growing number of Chinese opium addicts, led the Chinese government to impound foreign ships, destroy cargos, and arrest merchants. Basically suppressing the trade. The British did not like China's decisions. Therefore the British responded violently, they had a couple of bloody battles, the British won numerous times , dominating Chinese armies. China tried fighting back but it made things worse. Another major event that occurred in the Opium wars is the Treaty of Nanjing. This treaty is a big event because it gave Britain a lot of advantages, like the Chinese giving full control of Hong Kong to Britain. Also giving Britain more ports where they could trade Opium, the last thing that the British was given by the Chinese in accordance to the treaty was money. This basically showed that the British won the first Opium war, due to all the privileges the British gained from the Chinese’s peace

In the 19th century, technological improvements enabled many European nations to enlarge their power and have greater impact on other parts of the world. Those impacts are clearly demonstrated in the book Abina and the Important Men and the source Fifty Years of New Japan. Abina and the Important Men views on how a young woman from Gold Coast, West Africa in the 1870s failed to declare her own freedom in a local British dominated court. The source Fifty Years of New Japan demonstrates how Japan had modernized in fifty years with adoption of European cultural practices. Because the Gold Coast was a crown colony of the British empire, change made by European culture and power was in favor of the interest of Britain. Indigenous people respond to such changes differently based on their different social status. Japan, on the other hand, was independently adopting western cultural practices for modernization, so Japan was able to better improve herself by learning about the Western Civilization.

In the early eighteen hundreds, Britain and other European countries demanded more and more Chinese commodities, especially tea and silk. However, only the port in Canton was opened to foreign countries, and Chinese would not take any other form of payments besides silver. The desire to make China into a free market that foreigners have more access to and the increasing, though illegal, European opium import to China eventually created tension between the European countries, especially Britain, and the Chinese government (Allingham Par. 1-2). The two battles fought and won by European powers were known as the Opium Wars. China’s politics, economy, and intellects were both positively and negatively

The two Opium Wars, which took place from 1839-1860, were the starting point of modern Chinese history. To start off, the First Opium War was a major turning point for modern chinese history. Secondly, during the wars many treaties were signed to try and create peace. Finally, without these events, China would not be the major world power that it is today. Therefore, the Opium Wars were the most important part of modern world history because they changed and created the foundation of China.

The nineteenth century was a turbulent time of western imperialism and a major Asian power shift. European powers and the United States had a destabilizing effect on the region and the choices Japan and China made in response their imposing expansion was a major contributor to the trajectory of their respective futures. Social factors, such as the differences in national and religious unity, also played a role in the how the two nations emerged from the Age of Imperialism.

Both Japan and China lie in the East of Asia. ‪To a certain extent，Japan and China own similar culture background, in the Confucian Cultural Circle. But when we look back into the modern history development, Japan and China made quite different decisions when facing the western countries’ aggression. China suffered the invasion in 1840 after the first Sino-British War. Japan was in a similar situation in the black boat incident in 1853, the Opium War made the West began to pay attention to East Asia. From then on, Japan began to face the western culture. ‬The reactions, as well as the result of Japan and China were quite disparate. This article wants to discuss what lead to the difference. ‬‬

The chapter also extends on to Confucius learning among the populace and its usage by the government, Confucian learning and its relevance to China’s modernization program, and connections between Confucian teachings and democracy. Essentially, the author’s purpose for chapter 1 is to establish an understanding on the importance of Confucian learning undergoing transformations and adapted to modern times.